Tag Archives: business book

MA: I’m pleased today to welcome back a fellow Rocky Mountain author as my guest-blogger, Linda M. Faulkner. Linda first “guested” with me on January 29, 2010, just about one year ago. During that interview, she talked about her mystery novel, Second Time Around. When you finish reading today’s blog star with Linda, I’d encourage you to go back and read the first interview I did with her: Fellow Rocky Mountain Mystery Writer Linda Faulkner Rappels Down To The Child Finder Trilogy

Linda has written both fiction and non-fiction. She also pens a column, Business Sense, in The Weekender, a monthly entertainment newspaper (Orlando, FL) and articles for both regional and national magazines such as Three Rivers Lifestyle and Rough Notes. A tremendous body of Linda’s work appears in the insurance industry, where she has developed, written, and instructed numerous continuing education workshops and seminars. Visit Linda’s web site at: http://www.lindamfaulkner.com.

Your first published novel was a mystery. What prompted you to write a non-fiction business book?

LF: Actually it was a combination of two things. I’d been doing a significant amount of freelance writing in the insurance industry and it seemed an extension of that. Also, my husband (who loves gory science fiction movies and TV series but believes fiction will rot your brain) suggested it. Between my freelance writing and the fact that I’d founded several businesses, he felt I was more “qualified” to write business books than fiction. It sounded like a good idea, so I tried it.

MA: How is writing non-fiction different from writing fiction? You don’t get to make up stuff, do you?

LF: Actually, writing non-fiction has seriously improved my fiction—for several reasons. First, because non-fiction needs to be tighter than fiction, and because it’s not jazzed up with dialogue, it’s essential to use words that will make the greatest impact. Using those skills is definitely transferrable.

Having said that, the rules of grammar and punctuation and spelling don’t change with the genre. Neither do the rules of outlining and plotting, although it’s MUCH easier to outline (or plot) a non-fiction book. When I analyzed exactly how I outlined in non-fiction, and applied the technique to my fiction, it actually made the process easier!

And as far as making stuff up goes, sure you can make stuff up. You just can’t change facts or figures or statistics. I tend to teach by using examples and, while most of the examples I use in my business book are true stories, some of them are … fiction.

MA: Can writers benefit from the lessons in Taking the Mystery Out of Business?

LF: Absolutely! Writers are independent business people. They’re responsible for marketing, sales, building and retaining relationships, customer attention, and all the other things that people who have “real” jobs have to do.

MA: Well, Linda. I know you have a plane to catch, so we need to cut this off here, but I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Once again, Linda’s website is: www.lindafaulkner.com. Read More →